Orlando Ramirez/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
NAUCALPAN DE JUÁREZ, Mexico — Nine holes into his record-tying round Sunday, Justin Thomas bumped into Rory McIlroy, who was waiting to tee off on the first hole at Club de Golf Chapultepec. He said he asked McIlroy how he thought the afternoon would go.
McIlroy began the final day of the Mexico Championship four strokes behind Dustin Johnson, a deficit that was daunting but hardly insurmountable; the previous Sunday, J. B. Holmes charged from four strokes back to beat Thomas at the Genesis Open.
McIlroy told Thomas it would be hard to catch Johnson because of how well he was playing, a prediction that proved to be hit-the-flagstick accurate.